Misato Katsuragi
is a fictional character from the Neon Genesis Evangelion franchise. She is the operations director at Nerv, initially with the rank of captain; she is later promoted to major. In Rebuild of Evangelion, Misato's initial rank is lieutenant colonel. Her duties at Nerv include acting as a field commander for the Eva pilots, issuing orders and relaying battle strategies as well as processing input from Ritsuko Akagi and the technicians monitoring the Evas. She also handles many bureaucratic aspects of Nerv's operations. At the beginning of the series, Misato first brings Shinji Ikari to Nerv and is able to convince him to pilot the Eva Unit 01. She then chooses to have Shinji move in with her rather than live alone, and later takes in Asuka Langley Soryu. As the series progresses, through her former lover Ryoji Kaji she learns the truth behind the Human Instrumentality Project and the depths of deception that Nerv and Seele have gone to keep the Project secret, even from her. Profile As revealed in a flashback,Evangelion, Episode 12; also in the manga when Misato was 14, she accompanied her father, Dr. Katsuragi (the leader of the Katsuragi Expedition) to Antarctica. She was badly injured as the Second Impact was beginning, but her father placed her in a protective capsule (resembling an Entry Plug) just before he was killed.Evangelion, episode 12 The capsule saved her life, but her injuries left a large scar on her chest.Evangelion, episodes 10, 12, and the manga Another flashback reveals that she was aboard the ship which brought Kozo Fuyutsuki and Gendo Ikari to the ruins of Antarctica two years after Second Impact.Evangelion, episode 21 After seeing her in her room, Fuyutsuki was told that she had not spoken since the incident. Her mutism went away when she began to attend college, and she became more social and talkative, so much so that Ritsuko, while reminiscing about her friendship with Misato and Kaji at that time, thought that Misato seemed to be attempting to "make up for lost time." Misato's job(s) before being employed at Nerv are not specified, but in the manga her last job involved genetic experimentation on animals, as Pen Pen was a result of one such experiment. She chose to keep Pen Pen as a pet rather than let him be euthanized, and converted a refrigerator into a heated sleeping area for him. The cross pendant that she always wears was put around her neck by her father just before sealing the protective capsule. It is not revealed in the anime or manga if the pendant has significance to Misato beyond a link to her father, or was of any significance to her father. According to Misato's ID card,''Evangelion, Episode 08 she is 1.63 meters tall (slightly over 5 feet 4 inches) and her blood type is AO (however the sections of the card listing her age and weight have been scribbled out). Misato's drives a blue , a car which is at least fifteen years old. She is seen driving it in both Neon Genesis Evangelion and the Rebuild of Evangelion. Its design is remarkably accurate to the original A310, even going to far as to have the same number of bolts in the gearshift (though a few inlets aside the front storage compartment are misplaced). In the Rebuild of Evangelion series, Misato also drives a white . Relationships Misato appears to have some sort of affinity to Shinji despite being over twice his age. She finds Shinji's presence to be a grounding and stabilizing influence. In the manga, talking with Shinji at the train station after his first attempt to run away from Nerv, Misato confesses to Shinji that she took him in not because she thought it was her duty to do so, but because she was lonely. It becomes apparent to Misato that many of Shinji's problems in dealing with people closely echo her own, although their coping mechanisms are opposites of each other, and that they seem to be caught in a "Hedgehog's dilemma."Evangelion, Episode 04 After Asuka moves in, Misato finds herself often acting as a mediator between Shinji and Asuka. There is also a sexual tension between Shinji and Misato, but this aspect of their relationship is only hinted at (apart from the "adult kiss" scene in The End of Evangelion; however, the context of the scene gives this action multiple possible meanings). More prominently, she tries to be both a friend and a maternal influence for Shinji (which carries over to the other pilots), balancing this with her duties and responsibilities as his commanding officer at Nerv. Near the end of the series, Misato and Shinji's shared and separate traumas put distance between them, and Shinji can neither let himself comfort her (see next paragraph) nor be comforted by her (in the wake of Rei Ayanami's death).Evangelion, Episode 23 During her Instrumentality,'"Evangelion'', Episode 25 she expresses regret that she was not able to "be a mother for Shinji" in the end. (In the DVD commentary for The End of Evangelion, Amanda Winn-Lee jokingly states to Misato that "...you cleaned his tonsils with your tongue! That's not a very 'motherly' thing to do!!") Misato and Ryoji Kaji were lovers during college (it is implied in both the series and The End of Evangelion that not only did he take her virginity, but also that they once spent a whole week in bed doing nothing but having sex), but they had long broken up and do not see each other again until she flies out to the UN fleet ferrying Unit 02 and Asuka to Japan. After he returns to Nerv headquarters, Kaji flirts with Misato, who constantly insults him ("You're stupid", "I hate you", and "Dating you was the biggest blemish of my life."). she broke up with Kaji because she felt that he was interested in her solely for sexual reasons, since he himself doubted whether he was capable of true love. After Kaji reveals that Misato has been kept in the dark by her superiors and Ritsuko about Nerv's secrets, she begins to use Kaji to find out what Gendo Ikari's "true purpose" is. This culminates after Shinji is "reborn" from Unit 01's core after the battle with the Angel Zeruel, Kaji gives Misato a data capsule containing information on what she requested on their last meeting. Before he begins his last assignment (which leads to his murder), Kaji leaves Misato a final phone message to seek the truth using the information he has given her. Misato is devastated and breaks down after hearing the message. After this point, however, she becomes more proactive in learning the truth of the Instrumentality Project for herself. Misato and Ritsuko are friends at the start of the series, and flashbacks reveal that Ritsuko was one of Misato's first friends in college. However, their friendship dissolves as Misato learns more about the Instrumentality Project and Ritsuko's role in its development, as well as her complicity in its secrecy. They also clash frequently (and sometimes violently) over the lives of the Eva pilots during combat, as Ritsuko is willing to sacrifice the pilots if the situation appears to warrant it while Misato is dedicated to their survival. Later, she snidely comments on the fractured relations between Misato, Shinji, and Asuka, which Misato angrily retorts by accusing Ritsuko of substituting her cats for human affection.Evangelion, Episode 22 The End of Evangelion In the events of The End of Evangelion, Misato saves Shinji's life by killing three soldiers under the command of the Japanese Strategic Self Defense Force with her gun. She drags him into her car and drives toward Unit 01's launch bay and is eventually shot in the back while rushing Shinji through the launch bay's door. She shrugs off the wound, then has an intense and emotional conversation with Shinji to get him out of the suicidally defeatist emotional state he is in. She gives Shinji her now bloodstained pendant, as well as a French kiss, with a promise to "do the rest" when he gets back. She then shoves Shinji into the elevator to the launch bay, and collapses once the doors close. She asks (the now dead) Kaji if she did "the right thing", remembers Asuka and Pen-Pen, and then dies as the entire area is decimated by the JSSDF, tearing apart her body in the process.DVD commentary for The End of Evangelion. Just moments before the explosion, an image of Rei is shown above her body. Her remains are then transformed into LCL, which presents the possibility that Misato was complemented and could return to physical form if she had the will to. Personality and psychological health While on the job, Misato is very professional and capable, in stark contrast to her life at home. Until Shinji's arrival, her living space was a complete mess. She cannot cook for herself and relies solely on instant food (she is often considered gross by Shinji and Ritsuko for combining food like ramen and curry). She also drinks copious quantities of beer, and drinks one first thing in the morning to get her day started (later in the series she apparently switches to canned coffee as a supplement). She also smokes, though only occasionally and only during chaotic events. For most of the series, Misato has no apparent issues with displaying and emphasizing her femininity, and enjoys the attention this gains her. She enclosed a picture of herself in the Nerv materials sent to Shinji when he was summoned to Tokyo-3. In the picture, she is wearing a skimpy outfit with an arrow pointing to her breasts and a caption which is translated in English as "Pay attention" in the Platinum Edition subtitles and "note the cleavage" in the manga. In volume 2 of the manga, Shinji returns home from school to find the apartment unlocked and Misato in the shower; he thinks to himself, "That's not safe...anyone could walk in!" Shinji's friends Kensuke Aida and Toji Suzuhara develop crushes on Misato, attention she appears to enjoy. Misato's subordinate, First Lieutenant Makoto Hyuga, also falls in love with her (though as opposed to Toji and Kensuke, his feelings are sincere, as shown in The End of Evangelion). He often risks his life and job by providing sensitive information to Misato, and agrees to set Nerv HQ to self-destruct when Tabris attacks. Series director Hideaki Anno described Misato as "...a woman, twenty-nine, who lives life so lightly as to barely allow the possibility of human touch. She protects herself by keeping relationships on the surface, and by running away." The disparity between her professionalism on the job and her slovenliness at home, as well as her issues in her relationships with her father and Kaji and the ambiguous nature of her relationship with Shinji, ties into her psychological issues. While grateful to her father for saving her life, she also admits to hating him, as he devoted his life to his work and neglected her and her mother. Her reason for joining Nerv (and later, her drive to fight the Angels) is related to her issues with her father. Kaji implies in one discussion that Misato suffers from nightmares about her past, as he describes her as "sleeping uncomfortably." Also, Misato admits "seeking her father in Kaji's embrace."Evangelion, Episode 26 In Freudian terms, this can be interpreted as a confirmation of an Electra complex (as opposed to Shinji's merely implied equivalent Oedipus complex for his mother). Character notes Like many characters in Evangelion, Misato was named for a ship: the Katsuragi, an Unryū class WWII Japanese aircraft carrier. Her given name is from a heroine in Minako Narita's manga Aitsu.[http://www.evacommentary.org/appendix/character-names.html Evangelion character names]; Translation of essay by Hideaki Anno about character name origins; includes a link to the original essay in Japanese. Misato drives a bright blue Renault Alpine A310. She is a devotee of this particular marque of car, as on her bedroom wall she has a poster of an earlier Alpine A110 shot from the back during a race. She also carries an Heckler & Koch USP as a sidearm. It is only seen a few times throughout the series, but she is revealed to be a crack shot with it. In the Super Robot Wars games featuring Evangelion and Gundam (UC timeline), Misato gets a crush on ace pilot Amuro Ray, alluding to their seiyuus' other famous anime roles as Sailor Moon and Tuxedo Kamen respectively. She also makes some Sailor Moon comments when admiring the Nobel Gundam from Mobile Fighter G Gundam on Super Robot Wars MX, and points out similarities in voice with Vega from Gear Fighter Dendoh and Murrue Ramius from Mobile Suit Gundam SEED (two other characters voiced by Kotono Mitsuishi). In Rebuild of Evangelion her hair has been darkened so as to appear black rather than purple. Also in Rebuild, from what can be gleaned from Evangelion: 1.0 You Are (Not) Alone, she is more involved in what's going on at Nerv and her rank is Lieutenant-Colonel. Because of that, she actually knows about their possession of Lilith. References Category:Characters Category:NERV